38-km ECR stretch turns 4-lane road, Chennai-Nagai travel time cut by 2hrs

Stretch between Pondy & Poondiyankuppam to be opened on Mon as NHAI completes work

- B ANBUSELVAN @ Chennai

MOTORISTS travelling towards Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, and Nagapattinam along the East Coast Road (ECR) can look forward to smoother and faster travel with a saving of up to two hours in travel time as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has completed the fourlaning of the 38-km Puducherry-Poondiyankuppam stretch, ending near Cuddalore.

The works, executed at a cost of ₹1,588 crore under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I, mark another milestone in the ongoing ECR widening project. The travel time between Chennai and Nagapattinam (320km) by car may come down from seven hours to six hours and by bus from nine hours to seven hours, sources said.

With this, 220 km of the 300km Thiruvanmiyur-Nagapattinam section of the ECR have now been widened into four lanes and made operational, significantly improving road connectivity to Tamil Nadu's delta and coastal districts.